Confining device for compressive treatment of materials



Feb. 11, 1969 R. R. WALTON 3,426,405

CONFINING DEVICE FOR COMPRESSIVE TREATMENT OF MATERIALS Filed July I 11, 1966 United States Patent 3,426,405 CONFHJING DEVICE FUR COMPRESSIVE TREATMENT OF MATERIALS Richard Rhodes Walton, West Hill Place, Boston, Mass. 02114 Continuation-impart of application Ser. No. 342,589,

Jan. 23, 1964. This application July 11, 1966, Ser. No.

564,130 US. Cl. 26-1845 7 Claims Int. Cl. D06c 21/00; 33H 1/12 ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE In a machine for compressively treating materials, a device for confining the material against a drive surface in the form of a first surface and a second surface portion, both stationary, and generally parallel to the drive surface, the second surface extending beyond the first surface to define an enlargement cavity in which the material is treated due to the back-up action of a subsequent retarding passage.

This application is a continuation-in-part of my copending application Ser. No. 342,589 entitled Treatment of Materials, filed Jan. 23, 1964, now US. Patent No. 3,260,778, which in turn is a continuation-in-part of my application Ser. No. 97,606, filed Mar. 22, 1961, now abandoned.

The invention relates to machines having a drive surface which forces material through a treatment Zone and then into a retarding passage, such that the material is subjected to compressive forces acting in the direction of movement while in the treatment zone.

The principal object of the present invention is to improve the compressive treatment of running lengths of materials, and in particular textile materials.

The specific objects of the invention include the provision of means to ensure the crimping, crinkling or compressing of individual fibers and yarns, or their re-arrangement in the web, or shortening of the web, without imposing an over-all crimp or crepe to the web itself; the provision of means to establish the particular desired amount of compressive treatment and the particular type of treatment of the web without requiring extensive trial-anderror adjustment by the unskilled operator; the provision of means to obtain a Wide range of compressive effects without detrimental degradation of the material by the retarding member or other machine elements; and the provision of means to enable set-up of the machine elements without need of the use of a microscope or other such fine adjustment techniques.

A particular object is to provide an improved treatment passage for use in machines of various types, which, despite the thinness of the web being treated, and the fineness of the treatment, permits the use of inexpensive parts without critical adjustments or expensive procedures by the manufacturer or operator.

The invention features a cavity in which a first forwardly extending stationary surface, generally parallel to the travelling drive surface, is arranged to press the material against the drive surface, and a second forwardly extending stationary surface, also generally parallel to the drive surface, is spaced a predetermined amount further from the drive surface, providing a predetermined enlargement of the cavity. These surfaces are followed by a retarding passage, adapted to retard the material, to provide a compressed mass of material against which the fresh material can compress as it passes through the predetermined enlargement of the cavity.

3,426,405 Patented Feb. 11, 1969 The invention features the use of flat stock such as blue steel shim stock to define the first stationary surface, and a second member held face-to-face to the first member, and extending forwardly thereof, defines the second stationary surface, the predetermined thickness of the first member establishing the enlargement of the spacing of the second member from the drive surface.

The invention features a difference in spacing, such that, relative to a given textile web or strand of material to be processed, when the first surface fully compresses the material face-wise against the drive surface, the second surface may be spaced from the drive surface a distance of the order of magnitude of the uncompressed thickness of the material, or a distance less than the critical creping distance for the web as a whole depending upon the amount of compression desired.

The invention features an extension of the second surface for a substantial distance, more than about two times the spacing of the second surface from the drive surface, over which the second surface remains substantially parallel to the drive surface.

The invention features the second surface provided by a sheet stock member, while another feature, employed in conjunction with a retarding member of the stationary type, is a curved or bent forward extension of this second member positioned adjacent to the surface of the retarding member, to define a retarding passage. Another feature is that the thickness of the forward extension, or the entire second member gives the extension substantial resilient flexibility, while another feature is that the second member is held in a rearward region between the first member and a third member, the third member extending forward of the first member to maintain substantial parallelism between the lower surface of the second member and the drive surface in the desired region.

These and other objects and features will be understood from the following description of a preferred embodiment, in conjunction with the drawing which is a vertical cross-sectional view of the embodiment.

For examples of various accessories and general mechanical arrangements reference is made to the parent application.

In the embodiment selected to illustrate the invention, a drive member 14, providing a suitable drive surface 15, capable of travelling in direction D, is combined with a retarding member 16 of the stationary type, the surface 17 of the retarding member extending at an acute angle to the direction of travel of the portion of the drive surface lying at the tip of the retarding member.

As will be described in greater detail later, also in this selected embodiment a second stationary member defines with retarding member 16 a retarding passage, and an inclined plate is arranged to apply the force which presses the material to be treated 19 against the drive surface.

The drive surface is shown as extending substantially in a planar direction. It will be understood however that thickness Y of material 19 may for instance be .010 inch, and the drive member 14 may comprise a portion of a roll member having a diameter of about 10 inches.

A first surface 27, extending substantially parallel to the direction of travel D of the drive member 14 is disposed immediately adjacent to the surface of the drive member.

As shown, this surface compresses the material 19 from its uncompressed thickness Y to its fully compressed thickness X, in which no open space exists between the various fibers of the material. At edge E the material can be driven forward with substantial force.

According to the invention a second stationary surface 35, immediately following the first surface 27 also extends substantially parallel to direction D, but is spaced further from the drive surface, providing an enlargement of the cavity through which the material passes.

Material retarded by the retarding passage resists forward movement of the fresh material, and the material is thus subjected to compressional force due to the drive forces applied at E.

The cavity beyond E by the spacing of the second surface 35, enables a predetermined confinement of the material to be retained over a substantial distance in the direction of travel, while still providing a defined enlargement in which treatment of the material can proceed.

The amount of the enlargement can be established by numerous means. However, a feature of the invention is the use of a sheet member 25, e.g., of blue steel shim stock, to define the first surface 27. For instance by placing a rearward extension of second surface 35 upon the other side of sheet member 25, the thickness of sheet member 25 can define the dimension of the enlargement. Since shim stock is readily available and of accurately formed thickness, this provision is simple and inexpensive, yet of very great accuracy.

A feature of the invention useful in many important instances, lies in the enlargement of the spacing by a predetermined amount to make the total spacing between the second surface 35 and the surface of the drive member correspond substantially to the uncompressed thickness of the material to be treated. A feature useful particularly in the case of textiles, is for that total spacing to be less than the critical spacing for bodily creping of the web.

The predetermined enlargement of the cavity, as provided by the stationary surface 35, can provide a substantial space in which the fibers, threads or yarns, can blossom out, crimp, and thicken the web, while the web is still confined so that bodily creping of the web itself does not occur.

In other applications, for instance for the extremely fine creping of certain sheet materials such as treated paper, the predetermined enlargement can provide an accurate control for the size of crepe, or of non-creped thickening of the material.

The enlarged region beyond E is advantageously maintained of substantially constant depth Z for a distance in the direction of travel B substantially exceeding depth Z, B being preferably at least two, and advantageously in many instances, more than three times depth Z. Among the advantages flowing from this relationship is the lack of criticality in the alignment of parts, and the ability to space the retarding passage further from the point of drive, than was previously possible. Such advantages as these make machines which embody features of this invention less expensive and easier to set up.

Referring again to the drawing, in this embodiment the second surface 35 is defined by a second sheet member 33, and has a forward extension 33a which extends over the retarding member 16.

This extension of the sheet member is advantageously resiliently flexible, enabling it to adapt itself to the selected position of the retarding member (note the second position denoted by dotted lines in the drawing) and to apply the retarding forces in the proper way.

The spacing Z of the surface 35 can be advantageously maintained by use of a third member 39, which together with first member 25 traps a rearward extension of second member 33, the thickness of member 25 establishing the spacing Z at edge E, and a forward extension 39a of member 39 reinforcing member 33 over region B, in order to maintain the desired spacing.

In this embodiment a presser member 138 engages member 39 in the vicinity of edge E as shown, thus concentrating the pressure at E.

Example I The drive member 14 was a metal roll of 6 inch diameter, 125 teeth per inch helically knurled outer surface, chrome plated, heated to 275 F.

The primary member 25 was a shim stock member, the thickness of which was varied in the test.

The flexible member 33 was shim stock of .002 inch thickness. The third or control member 39 was shim stock of .010 inch thickness. The extension B of member 39 beyond E was .030 inch.

The material treated was a knitted fabric, 40 denier nylon tricot, 7.8 square yards per pound. Its uncompressed thickness was about .010 inches, its fully compressed thickness about .003 inch.

Three runs were conducted varying the thickness of the primary plate 25, and the amount of compaction was determined, on the basis of percentage decrease in length. The results follow:

Dimension 2., Percent inches: compaction .003 32.2 .006 38.8 .009 1 36.2

1 With detrimental crepe.

Example II The machine was the same as in Example I. The material processed was a 50% polyester/50% cotton woven Oxford cloth, 4.00 ounces per square yard.

Dimension 2, inches: Percent compaction 1 With detrimental crepe.

With woven materials it is observed that the main effect of the compaction is to increase the weave crimp.

The above examples illustrate the use of the preferred embodiment, which employs all the features discussed. It should be understood that many other materials, and other weights, densities and thicknesses can be employed, and machines having individual or certain combinations of the features described, but not all of them, are within the spirit and scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. In a machine for compressively treating web materials, including means for feeding web to the machine and means for withdrawing web from the machine, the machine including a traveling drive surface, a device for confining the web against the drive surface followed by means defining a retarding passage adapted to retard the material driven forward by said drive surface, the improvement wherein said device for confining the web comprises a first forwardly extending stationary surface and a second forwardly extending stationary surface, said first surface arranged to press the material against the drive surface, said second surface being adjacent said first surface and extending a substantial distance therebeyond to form a compaction treatment cavity, a portion of said second surface supported generally parallel to the drive surface and spaced a predetermined amount further from the drive surface than said first surface, providing said treatment cavity with a substantially abrupt entry and a predetermined substantially uniform depth over a substantial distance beginning at the forward end of said first surface, said first surface defined by a sheet member having a predetermined uniform thickness, the member defining said second surface having a rearwardly extending portion engaged upon the outer surface of said sheet member so that the thickness of said sheet member establishes the spacing of said second surface from said drive surface to define the depth of said treatment cavity, said treatment cavity followed by said means defining said retarding passage, the latter adapted to retard the material and provide a compressed mass of material against which fresh material can compress as it passes through the predetermined enlargement of the cavity.

2. The machine of claim 1 wherein the member defining said second surface is defined by a second sheet stock member.

3. The machine of claim 2 in combination with a retarding member of the stationary type, wherein a curved forward extension of said second member is positioned adjacent to the surface of a retarding member, to define a retarding passage.

4. The machine of claim 2 wherein the thickness of said second member gives it substantial resilient flexibility, said second member being held in a rearward region H between the first member and a third member, the third member extending forward of the first member to maintain substantial parallelism between the lower surface of the second member and the drive surface in the region immediately following said first member thereby to support the portion of said second member defining said treatment cavity.

5. In a machine for compressively treating web materials, including means for feeding web to the machine and means for withdrawing web from the machine, the machine including a traveling drive surface, and a device for confining the web against the drive surface followed by means defining a retarding passage adapted to retard the material driven forward by said drive surface, the improvement wherein said device for confining the web comprises a first forwardly extending stationary surface, generally parallel to the traveling drive surface, said first surface arranged to press the material against the drive surface, and a second forwardly extending stationary surface, a portion of said second surface being adjacent said first surface and extending a substantial distance therebeyond to form the sole compaction treatment cavity, said surface portion supported generally parallel to the drive surface and spaced a predetermined amount further from the drive surface than said first surface, providing said treatment cavity with a substantially abrupt entry and a predetermined substantially uniform depth over a substantial distance beginning at the forward end of said first surface, said second surface including a second surface portion which extends beyond said first surface portion and forms part of said means defining said retarding passage, the latter adapted to retard the material and provide a compressed mass of material against which fresh material can compress as it passes through the predetermined enlargement of the cavity.

6. The machine of claim 5 wherein said first portion of said second surface extends for a substantial distance beyond the forward end of said first surface, more than about two times the spacing of the first portion of said second surface portion from the drive surface, over which distance said first surface portion remains substantially parallel to said drive surface.

7. In a machine for compressively treating web materials including means for feeding web to the machine and means for withdrawing web from the machine, the machine including a drive roll having a drive surface, a stationary sheet-form shoe member for confining the web against the drive surface, and a retarding passage formed between a flexible extension of said shoe member and a stationary retarding member, the latter member having an edge lying close to said drive surface, and having a slippable surface extending outwardly at an acute angle to said drive surface, the improvement comprising a first forwardly extending stationary surface, generally parallel to the traveling drive surface, said first surface arranged to press the material against the drive surface, a second forwardly extending stationary surface having two surface portions the first of which is supported generally parallel to the drive surface, is spaced a predetermined amount further from the drive surface than said first surface, and extends beyond said first surface to provide a treatment cavity of predetermined substantially uniform depth over a substantial distance beginning at the forward end of said first surface, said surfaces followed by said retarding passage, the latter adapted to retard the material and provide a compressed mass of material against which fresh material can compress as it passes through the predetermined enlargement of the cavity, said first surface defined by a first sheet form member, said second surface defined by a second flexible sheet form member, the second portion of the second surface constituted by a forward extension of said first portion and converging with said retarding member to form said retarding passage, and a third relatively stiff member extending from a support forwardly of the forward end of said first sheet form member a substantial distance, said third member engaging the first portion of said second sheet form member, thereby to form the support for said surface portion defining said treatment cavity.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,263,712 11/1941 Wrigley et al 26l8.6 3,015,146 1/1962 COhn et al 26l8.6 3,260,778 7/1966 Walton 264282 3,287,784 11/1966 Loftin et al.

ROBERT R. MACKEY, Primary Examiner.

US. Cl. X.R. 

